LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, 



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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



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Manual of Elocution 



AND 



Ioice Culture, 



DESIGNED TO FURNISH, IN CONVENIENT FORM, A FEW CHOICE 
EXERCISES AND SELECTIONS FOR CLASS DRILL IN CON- 
NECTION WITH THE STUDY OF THE PRINCIPLES 
OF ELOCUTION AND ORATORY. 



By L. A. BUTTEBEIELIX 



PROFESSOR IN THE MONROE CONSERVATORY OF ELOCUTION, ORATORY, AND 

THE DRAMATIC ART, AND TEACHER OF ELOCUTION IN 

THE NEWTON THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY. 




BOSTON, MASS. : 

Printed by R. J. Long, 36 Bromfield St. 

1883. 






; of Cor 



Entered according- to Act of Congress, in the year 1883, by 
L. A. ' BUTTERFIELD, 
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 



MANUAL OF ELOCUTION. 



Purity of Tone. 

1. From the workshop of the Golden Key there issued 
forth a tinkling sound, so merry and good-humored, that it 
suggested the idea of some one working blithely, and made 
quite pleasant music. Tink, tink, tink — clear as a silver 
bell, and audible at every pause of the streets' harsher noises, 
as though it said, " I don't care ; nothing puts me out ; I am 
resolved to be happy." 



2. I come from haunts of coot and hern, 
I make a sudden sally, 
And sparkle out among the fern, 
To bicker down a valley. 



3. You bells in the steeple, ring, ring out your changes, 
How many soever they be, 
And let the brown meadow-lark's note as he ranges 



Come over, come over to me. 



4. A blind man would know that one was a gentleman 
and the other a clown by the tones of their voices. 



4 MANUAL OF ELOCUTION 

Projection of Tone. 

1. Ho ! strike the flag-staff deep. Sir Knight — ho ! scatter 
flowers, fair maids : 
Ho ! gunners, fire a loud salute — ho ! gallants, draw your 
blades. 

2. The splendor falls on castle walls, 
And snowy summits old in story ; 
The long light shakes across the lakes, 
And the wild cataract leaps in glory. 



3. Roll on, thou deep and dark blue ocean — roll ! 
Ten thousand fleets sweep over thee in vain. 



4. Ye crags and peaks, Fm with you once again ! 
I hold to you the hands you first beheld, 
To show they still are free. Methinks I hear 
A spirit in your echoes answer me, 
And bid your tenant welcome home again ! 



Fulness and Breadth of Tone. 

1. Freedom, thou art not, as poets dream, 

A fair young girl, with light and delicate limbs, 
And wavy tresses, gushing from the cap 
With which the Roman master crowned his slave 
When he took off the gyves. 

A bearded man, 
Armed to the teeth, art thou ; one mailed hand 
Grasps the broad shield, and one the sword ; thy brow, 
Glorious in beauty though it be, is scarred 
With tokens of old wars ; thy massive limbs 
Are strong with struggling. 



AND VOICE CULTURE. 

2. The hills, 

Bock-ribbed and ancient as the sun, — the vales, 
Stretching in pensive quietness between ; 
The venerable woods — rivers that move 
In majesty, and the complaining brooks, 
That make the meadows green ; and, poured round all, 
Old ocean's gray and melancholy waste, — 
Are but the solemn decorations all 
Of the great tomb of man. 



3. The combat deepens. On, ye brave, 
Who rush to glory or the grave ! 
Wave, Munich ! all thy banners wave, 
And charge with all thy chivalry ! 



4. It is done ! 

Clang of bell and roar of gun ! 
Send the tidings up and down. 

How the belfries rock and reel ! 

How the great guns, peal on peal, 
Fling the joy from town to town ! 



Articulation. 



1. The coming and going of the birds is more or less a 
mystery and a surprise. We go out in the morning, and no 
thrush or finch is to be heard ; we go out again, and every 
tree and grove is musical ; yet again, and all is silent. Who 
saw them come ? Who saw them depart ? 



2. Flower in the crannied wall, 

I pluck you out of the crannies ; 

Hold you here, root and all, in my hand, 
Little flower — but if I could understand 

What you are, root and all, and all in all, 
I should know what God and man is. 



MANUAL OF ELOCUTION 



3. The day is done, and the darkness 
Falls from the wings of Night, 
As a feather is wafted downward 
From an eagle in his flight. 



4. O, how our organ can speak with its many and wonderful 
^voices ! — 
Play on the soft lute of love, blow the loud trumpet of 

war, 
Sing with the high sesquialtro, or, drawing its full diapa- 
son, 
Shake all the air with the grand storm of its pedals and 
stops. 

5. Advance, then, ye future generations ! We would hail 
you, as you rise in your long succession, to fill the places 
which we now fill, and to taste the blessings of existence 
where we are passing, and shall soon have passed, our own 
human duration. 

We bid you welcome to this pleasant land of the fathers. 
We bid you welcome to the healthful skies and the verdant 
fields of New England. We greet your accession to the 
great inheritance which we have enjoyed. We welcome you 
to the blessings of good government and religious liberty. 



Inflections. 

Falling Inflections. 
1. Who's here so base that would be a bondman ? If any, 
speak ; for him have I offended. Who's here so rude that 
would not be a Roman ? If any, speak ; for him have I 
offended. Who's here so vile that will not love his country ? 
If any, speak ; for him have I offended. I pause for a reply. 



AND VOICE CULTURE. 



2. Now for the fight, — now for the cannon peal, — 
Forward, — through blood and toil and cloud and fire ! 



3. How far, Catiline ! wilt thou abuse our patience ? 
How long shalt thou baffle justice in thy mad career ? To 
what extreme wilt thou carry thy audacity ? 



Rising Inflections. 
1. Art thou nothing daunted by the nightly watch, posted 
to secure the Palatium ? Nothing, by the city guards ? 
Nothing, by the rally of all good citizens ? Nothing, by 
the assembling of the Senate in this fortified place ? Noth- 
ing, by the averted looks of all here present ? 



2. Wouldst thou lack that 

Which thou esteem'st the ornament of life, 
And live a coward in thine own esteem, 
Letting " I dare not " wait upon " I would/' 
Like the poor cat i' the adage ? 



Rising and Falling Inflections. 
2. As Caesar loved me, I weep for him ; as he was fortu- 
nate, I rejoice at it ; as he was valiant, I honor him ; but as 
he was ambitious, I slew him. 



3. Can honor set a leg ? No. Or an arm ? No. Or 
take away the grief of a wound ? No. Honor hath no 
skill in surgery, then ? No. What is honor ? A word. 
What is that word, honor ? Air. Who hath it ? He that 
died on Wednesday. Doth he feel it ? No. Doth he hear 
it ? No. Is it insensible, then ? Yes, to the dead. But 
will it not live with the living ? No. Why ? Detraction 
will not suffer it. 



MANUAL OF ELOCUTION. 



Circumflex Inflections. 
What should I say to you ? Should I not say, 
Hath a dog money ? is it possible, 
A cur can lend three thousand ducats ? 



2. If I'm not so large as you. 

You are not so small as I, 

And not half so spry : 

I ? 11 not deny you make 
A very pretty squirrel track ! 
Talents differ ; all is well and wisely put ; 
If I cannot carry forests on my back 

Neither can you crack a nut. 



Monotone. 



The cloud-capped towers, the gorgeous palaces, 
The solemn temples, the great globe itself, — 
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve, 
And, like this unsubstantial pageant, faded, — 
Leave not a rack behind. 



Whisper. 

1. All heaven and earth are still, — though not in sleep, 
But breathless, as we grow when feeling most ; 
And silent, as we stand in thoughts too deep. 



Aspirated Tone. 

1. Hush ! hark ! did stealing steps go by ? 
Came not faint whispers near ? 



And the bride-maidens whispered, " ; Twere better, by far, 
To have matched our fair cousin with young Lochinvar." 



SELECTIONS. 



THE CHEERFUL LOCKSMITH. 

From the workshop of the Golden Key there issued forth 
a tinkling sound, so merry and good-humored, that it sug- 
gested the idea of some one working blithely, and made quite 
pleasant music. Tink, tink, tink — clear as a silver bell, 
and audible at every pause of the streets' harsher noises, as 
though it said, " I don't care ; nothing puts me out ; I am 
resolved to be happy." 

2. Women scolded, children squalled, heavy carts went 
rumbling by, horrible cries proceeded from the lungs of 
hawkers ; still it struck in again, no higher, no lower, no 
louder, no softer ; not thrusting itself on people's notice a 
bit the more for having been outdone by louder sounds — 
tink, tink, tink, tink, tink. 

3. It was a perfect embodiment of the still small voice, 
free from all cold, hoarseness, huskiness, or unhealthiness 
of any kind. Foot-passengers slackened their pace, and 
were disposed to linger near it ; neighbors who had got up 
splenetic that morning, felt good-humor stealing on them as 
they heard it, and by degrees became quite sprightly ; moth- 
ers danced their babies to its ringing ; — still the same magi- 
cal tink, tink, tink, came gaily from the workshop of the 
Golden Key. 

4. Who but the locksmith could have made such music ? 
A gleam of sun shining through the unsashed window and 



10 MANUAL OF ELOCUTION 

checkering the dark workshop with a broad patch of light, 
fell full upon him, as though attracted by his sunny heart. 
There he stood working at his anvil, his face radiant with 
exercise and gladness, his sleeves turned up, his wig pushed 
off his shining forehead — the easiest, freest, happiest man 
in all the world. 

5. Beside him sat a sleek cat, purring and winking in the 
light and falling every now and then into an idle doze, as 
from excess of comfort. The very locks that hung around 
had something jovial in their rust, and seemed like gouty 
gentlemen of hearty natures, disposed to joke on their in- 
firmities. 

6. There was nothing surly or severe in the whole scene. 
It seemed impossible that any one of the innumerable keys 
could fit a churlish strong-box or a prison-door. Store-houses 
of good things, rooms where there were fires, books, gossip, 
and cheering laughter — these were their proper sphere of 
action. Places of distrust and cruelty and restraint, they 
would have quadruple-locked forever. 

7. Tink, tink, tink. No man who hammered on at a dull, 
monotonous duty could have brought such cheerful notes 
from steel and iron ; none but a chirping, healthy, honest- 
hearted fellow, who made the best of everything and felt 
kindly towards everybody, could have done it for an instant. 
He might have been a coppersmith, and still been musical. 
If he had sat in a jolting wagon, full of rods of iron, it seemed 
as if he would have brought some harmony out of it. 

Charles Dickens. 



THE LAUNCH OE THE SHIP, 
i. 
" Build me straight, worthy Master ! 
Staunch and strong, a goodly vessel, 
That shall laugh at all disaster, 

And with wave and whirlwind wrestle ! " 



AND VOICE CULTURE. 11 

II. 

The merchant's word 

Delighted the Master heard ; 

For his heart was m his work, and the heart 

Giveth grace unto every art. 

And with a voice that was full of glee, 

He answered, " Ere long we will launch 

A vessel as goodly, and strong, and staunch 

As ever weathered a wintry sea ! " 

in. 
All is finished ! and at length 
Has come the bridal day 
Of beauty and of strength. 
To-day the vessel shall be launched ! 
With fleecy clouds the sky is blanched ; 
And o'er the bay, 
Slowly, in all his splendors dight, 
The great sun rises to behold the sight. 

IV. 

The ocean old, 

Centuries old, 

Strong as youth, and as uncontrolled, 

Paces restless to and fro, 

Up and down the sands of gold. 

His beating heart is not at rest ; 

And far and wide, 

With ceaseless flow, 

His beard of snow 

Heaves with the heaving of his breast. 

v. 
He waits impatient for his bride. 
There she stands, 



12 MANUAL OF ELOCUTION 

With her foot upon the sands, 

Decked with flags and streamers gay, 

In honor of her inarriage-day, 

Her snow-white signals fluttering, blending, 

Round her like a veil descending, 

Ready to be 

The bride of the gray, old sea. 

VI. 

Then the Master, 

With a gesture of command, 

Waved his hand ; 

And at the word, 

Loud and sudden there was heard, 

All around them and below, 

The sound of hammers, blow on blow, 

Knocking away the shores and spurs. 

And see ! she stirs ! 

She starts, — she moves, — she seems to feel 

The thrill of life along her keel, 

And, spurning with her foot the ground, 

With one exulting, joyous bound, 

She leaps into the ocean's arms ! 

VII. 

And lo ! from the assembled crowd 

There rose a shout, prolonged and loud, 

That to the ocean seemed to say, — 

" Take her, bridegroom, old and gray ; 

Take her to thy protecting arms, 

With all her youth, and all her charms ! " 

VIII. 

How beautiful she is ! how fair 

She lies within those arms, that press 



ASD VOICE CULTURE. 13 

Her form with many a soft caress 

Of tenderness and watchful care ! 

Sail forth into the sea, ship ! 

Through wind and wave, right onward steer ! 

The moistened eye, the trembling lip, 

Are not the signs of doubt or fear. 

IX. 

Thou, too, sail on, Ship of State ! 
Sail on, Union, strong and great ! 
Humanity, with all its fears, 
With all the hopes of future years, 
Is hanging breathless on thy fate ! 
We know what Master laid thy keel, 
What Workmen wrought thy ribs of steel. 
Who made each mast, and sail, and rope, 
What anvils rang, what hammers beat, 
In what a forge, and what a heat, 
Were shaped the anchors of thy hope ! 

x. 
Fear not each sudden sound and shock ; 
'Tis of the wave, and not the rock ; 
'Tis but the flapping of the sail, 
And not a rent made by the gale ! 
In spite of rock and tempest's roar, 
In spite of false lights on the shore, 
Sail on, nor fear to breast the sea ! 
Our hearts, our hopes, are all with thee : 
Our hearts, our hopes, our prayers, our tears, 
Our faith triumphant o'er our fears, 
Are all with thee, — are all with thee ! 

H. W. Longfellow. 



14 MANUAL OF ELOCUTION 

HANDSOME IS THAT HANDSOME DOES. 

" Handsome is that handsome does, — hold up your heads, 
girls ! " was the language of Primrose in the play when ad- 
dressing her daughters. The worthy matron was right. 
What is good-looking, as Horace Smith remarks, but looking 
good ? Be good, be womanly, be gentle, — generous in your 
sympathies, heedful of the well-being of all around you; 
and, my word for it, you will not lack kind words of admi- 
ration. Loving and pleasant associations will gather about 
you. 

2. Never mind the ugly reflection which your glass may 
give you. That mirror has no heart. But quite another 
picture is yours on the retina of human sympathy. There 
the beauty of holiness, of purity, of that inward grace which 
passeth show, rests over it, softening and mellowing its 
features just as the calm moonlight melts those of a rough 
landscape into harmonious loveliness. 

3. "Hold up your heads, girls ! " I repeat after Primrose. 
Why should you not ? Every mother's daughter of you can 
be beautiful. You can envelop yourselves in an atmosphere 
of moral and intellectual beauty, through which your other- 
wise plain faces will look forth like those of angels. 

4. Beautiful to Ledyard, stiffening in the cold of a north- 
ern winter, seemed the diminutive, smoke-stained women of 
Lapland, who wrapped him in their furs and ministered to 
his necessities with kindness and gentle words of compassion. 
Lovely to the homesick heart of Park seemed the dark maids 
of Sego, as they sung their low and simple song of welcome 
beside his bed, and sought to comfort the white stranger, 
who had " no mother to bring him milk and no wife to grind 
him corn." 

5. 0, talk as we may of beauty as a thing to be chiseled 
from marble or wrought out on canvas ; speculate as we 



AND VOICE CULTURE. 15 

may upon its colors and outlines, what is it but an intellect- 
ual abstraction after all ? The heart feels a beauty of another 
kind ; looking through the outward environment, it discovers 
a deeper and more real loveliness. 

6. This was well understood by the old painters. In their 
pictures of Mary, the virgin mother, the beauty which melts 
and subdues the gazer is that of the soul and the affections, 
uniting the awe and mystery of that mother's miraculous 
allotment with the irrepressible love, the unutterable tender- 
ness of young maternity, — Heaven's crowning miracle with 
Nature's holiest and sweetest instinct. 

7. And their pale Magdalens, holy with the look of sins 
forgiven, — how the divine beauty of their penitence sinks 
into the heart ! Do we not feel that the only real deformity is 
sin, and that goodness evermore hallows and sanctifies its 
dwelling-place ? When the soul is at rest, when the passions 
and desires are all attuned to the divine harmony, — 

;i Spirits moving musically 
To a lute's well-ordered law," 

do we not read the placid significance thereof in the human 
countenance ? 

8. " I have seen," said Charles Lamb, " faces upon which 
the dove of peace sat brooding." In that simple and beauti- 
ful record of a holy life, the Journal of John Woolman, 
there is a passage of which I have been more than once re- 
minded in my intercourse with my fellow-beings : u Some 
glances of real beauty may be seen in their faces who dwell 
in true meekness. There is a divine harmony in the sound 
of that voice to which divine love gives utterance." 

9. Quite the ugliest face I ever saw was that of a woman 
whom the world calls beautiful. Through its "silver veil " 
the evil and ungentle passions looked out hideous and hate- 
ful. On the other hand, there are faces which the multitude 
at the first glance pronounce homely, unattractive, and such 



16 MANUAL OF ELOCUTION 

as " Nature fashions by the gross," which I always recognise 
with a warm heart-thrill ; not for the world would I have 
one feature changed ; they please me as they are ; they are 
hallowed by kind memories ; they are beautiful through 
their associations ; nor are they any the less welcome that 
with my admiration of them " the stranger intermeddleth 
not." j. G. Whittieb. 



UNION AND LIBEETY. 
i. 
Flag of the heroes who left us their glory, 
Borne through our battle-fields' thunder and flame, 
Blazoned in song and illumined in story, 
Wave o'er us all who inherit their fame ! 

n. 

Up with our banner bright, 

Sprinkled with starry light, 
Spread its fair emblems from mountain to shore ; 

While through the sounding sky, 

Loud rings the nation's cry, — 
Union and liberty ! — one evermore ! 

in. 

Light of our firmament, guide of our nation, 
Pride of her children, and honored afar, 

Let the wide beams of thy full constellation 
Scatter each cloud that would darken a star ! 

IV. 

Empire unsceptred ! what foe shall assail thee, 
Bearing the standard of Liberty's van ? 

Think not the God of thy fathers shall fail thee, 
Striving with men for the birthright of man ! 



AND VOICE CULTURE. 17 



Yet, if by madness and treachery blighted, 

Dawns the dark hour when the sword thou must draw, 

Then, with the arms of thy millions united, 
Smite the bold traitors to Freedom and Law ! 

VI. 

Lord of the Universe ! shield us and guide us, 
Trusting Thee always, through shadow and sun ! 

Thou hast united us, who shall divide us ? 
Keep us, keep us, the Many in One ! 

VII. 

Up with our banner bright, 

Sprinkled with starry light, 

Spread its fair emblems from mountain to shore ; 

While through the sounding sky, 

Loud rings the nation's cry, — 

Union and Liberty ! — one evermore ! 

O. W. Holmes. 



TBEATMENT OF THE AMEEICAN COLONIES. 

My Lords — I rise with astonishment to see these papers 
brought to your table at so late a period of this business ; 
papers, to tell us what ? Why, what all the world knew 
before ; that the Americans, irritated by repeated injuries, 
and stripped of their inborn rights and dearest privileges, 
have resisted, and entered into associations for the preser- 
vation of their common liberties. 

2. Had the early situation of the people of Boston been 
attended to, things would not have come to this. But the 
infant complaints of Boston were literally treated like the 
capricious squalls of a child, who, it was said, did not know 



18 MANUAL OF ELOCUTION 

whether it was aggrieved or not. But full well I knew at 
that time that this child, if not redressed, would soon assume 
the courage and voice of a man. Full well I knew that the 
sons of ancestors, born under the same free constitution, and 
once breathing the same liberal air, as Englishmen, would 
resist upon the same principles and on the same occasions. 

3. What has government done ? They have sent an 
armed force, consisting of seventeen thousand men, to dragoon 
the Bostonians into what is called their duty ; and, so far 
from once turning their eyes to the impolicy and destructive 
consequence of this scheme, are constantly sending out more 
troops. And we are told, in the language of menace, that, 
if seventeen thousand men won't do, fifty thousand shall. 

4. It is true, my lords, with this force they may ravage 
the country, waste and destroy as they march ; but in the 
progress of fifteen hundred miles can they occupy the places 
they have passed ? Will not a country which can produce 
three millions of people, wronged and insulted as they are 
start up, like hydras, in every corner, and gather fresh strength 
from fresh opposition ? Nay, what dependence can you have 
upon the soldiery, the unhappy engines of your wrath ? They 
are Englishmen, who must feel for the privileges of English- 
men. Do you think that these men can turn their arms 
against their brethren ? Surely not. A victory must be to 
them a defeat ; and carnage, a sacrifice. 

5. But it is not merely three millions of people, the pro- 
duce of America, we have to contend with in this unnatural 
struggle ; many more are on their side, dispersed over the 
face of this wide empire. Every whig in this country and 
in Ireland is with them. Who, then, let me demand, has 
given, and continues to give, this strange and unconstitutional 
advice ? 

6. I do not mean to level at any one man, or any particu- 
lar set of men; but thus much I will venture to declare, 



AND VOICE CULTURE. 19 

that if His Majesty continues to hear such counsellors, he 
will not only be badly advised, but undone. He may con- 
tinue, indeed, to wear his crown ; but it will not be worth 
his wearing. Eobbed of so principal a jewel as America, it 
will lose its lustre, and no longer beam that effulgence which 
should irradiate the brow of majesty. 

7. In this alarming crisis, I come, with this paper in my 
hand, to offer you the best of my experience and advice ; 
which is, that an humble petition be presented to His Majesty, 
beseeching him, that, in order to open the way towards a 
happy settlement of the dangerous troubles in America, it 
may graciously please him that immediate orders be given 
to General Gage for removing His Majesty's forces from the 
town of Boston. 

8. And this, my lords, upon the most mature and deliber- 
ate grounds, is the best advice I can give you at this juncture. 
Such conduct will convince America that you mean to try 
her cause in the spirit of freedom and inquiry, and not in 
letters of blood. There is no time to be lost. Every hour 
is big with danger. Perhaps, while I am now speaking, the 
decisive blow is struck, which may involve millions in the 
consequence. And, believe me, the very first drop of blood 
which is shed will cause a wound which may never be 

healed. 

Lord Chatham. 



LOCHINVAR. 

i. 
young Lochinvar is come out of the West, — 
Through all the wide Border his steed was the best ! 
And, save his good broadsword, he weapon had none, ■ 
He rode all unarmed, and he rode all alone. 
So faithful in love, and so dauntless in war, 
There never was knight like the young Lochinvar. 



20 MANUAL OF ELOCUTION 

II. 

He stayed not for brake, and lie stopped not for stone, 

He swam the Eske river where ford there was none ; 

But, ere he alighted at Netherby gate, 

The bride had consented, the gallant came late : 

For a laggard in love, and a dastard in war, 

Was to wed the fair Ellen of brave Lochinvar. 

in. 
So boldly he entered the Netherby hall, 
'Mong bridesmen, and kinsmen, and brothers, and all : 
Then spoke the bride's father, his hand on his sword 
(For the poor craven bridegroom said never a word), 
" 0, come ye in peace here, or come ye in war, 
Or to dance at our bridal, young Lord Lochinvar ?" — 

IV. 

" I long wooed your daughter, — my suit you denied ; — 
Love swells like the Solway, but ebbs like its tide ; 
And now am I come, with this lost love of mine 
To lead but one measure, drink one cup of wine. 
There are maidens in Scotland more lovely by far, 
That would gladly be bride to the young Lochinvar/' 

v. 
The bride kissed the goblet ; the knight took it up ; 
He quaffed off the wine, and he threw down the cup. 
She looked down to blush, and she looked up to sigh, 
With a smile on her lip, and a tear in her eye. 
He took her soft hand, ere her mother could bar, — 
" Now tread we a measure ! " said young Lochinvar. 

VI. 

So stately his form, and so lovely her face, 
That never a hall such a galliard did grace ; 



AND VOICE CULTURE. 21 

While her mother did fret, and her father did fume, 
And the bridegroom stood dangling his bonnet and plume ; 
And the bride-maidens whispered, " 'Twere better, by far, 
To have matched our fair cousin with young Lochinvar." 

VII. 

One touch to her hand, and one word in her ear, 

When they reached the hall-door, and the charger stood near ; 

So light to the croupe the fair lady he swung, 

So light to the saddle before her he sprung : 

" She is won ! we are gone ! over bank, bush, and scar ; 

They '11 have fleet steeds that follow/' quoth young Lochinvar. 

VIII. 

There was mounting 'mong Graemes of the Netherby clan ; 

Forsters, Fenwicks, and Musgraves, they rode and they ran : 

There was racing and chasing on Cannobie Lee, 

But the lost bride of Netherby ne'er did they see. 

So daring in love, and so dauntless in war, 

Have ye e'er heard of gallant like young Lochinvar ? 

Sir Walter Scott. 



NATIONAL BANKRUPTCY. 

I hear much said of patriotism, appeals to patriotism, 
transports of patriotism. Gentlemen, why prostitute this 
noble word ? Is it so very magnanimous to give up a part 
of your income in order to save your whole property ? This 
is very simple arithmetic ; and he that hesitates, deserves 
contempt rather than indignation. 

2. Yes, gentlemen, it is to your immediate self-interest, 
to your most familiar notions of prudence and policy, that I 



22 MANUAL OF ELOCUTION 

now appeal. I say not to you now, as heretofore, beware 
how you give the world the first example of an assembled 
nation untrue to the public faith. I ask you not, as hereto- 
fore, what right you have to freedom, or what means of main- 
taining it, if, at your first step in administration, you outdo 
in baseness all the old and corrupt governments. I tell you, 
that unless you prevent this catastrophe, you will all be in- 
volved in the general ruin ; and that you are yourselves the 
persons most deeply interested in making the sacrifices which 
the government demands of you. 

3. I exhort you, then, most earnestly, to vote these extraor- 
dinary supplies ; and God grant they may prove sufficient ! 
Vote them, I beseech you; for, even if you doubt the expe- 
diency of the means, you know perfectly well that the sup- 
plies are necessary, and that you are incapable of raising 
them in any other way. Vote them at once, for the crisis 
does not admit of delay ; and, if it occurs, we must be re- 
sponsible for the consequences. 

4. Beware of asking for time. Misfortune accords it 
never. While you are lingering, the evil day will come 
upon you. Why, gentlemen, it is but a few days since, that 
upon occasion of some foolish bustle in the Palais Royal, 
some ridiculous insurrection that existed nowhere but in the 
heads of a few weak or designing individuals, we were told 
with emphasis, " Catiline is at the gates of Eome, and yet 
we deliberate." We know, gentlemen, that this was all im- 
agination. We are far from being at Eome ; nor is there 
any Catiline at the gates of Paris. But now are we threat- 
ened with a real danger ; bankruptcy, national bankruptcy, 
is before you ; it threatens to swallow up your persons, your 
property, your honor, — and yet you deliberate. 

MlRABEAU. 



AND VOICE CULTURE. 23 



THE BISING IN 1776. 
i. 

Out of the North the wild news came, 
Far flashing on its wings of flame, 
Swift as the boreal light which flies 
At midnight through the startled skies. 
And there was tumult in the air, 

The fife's shrill note, the drum's loud beat, 
And through the wide land everywhere 

The answering tread of hurrying feet ; 
While the first oath of Freedom's gun 
Came on the blast from Lexington ; 
And Concord, roused, no longer tame, 
Forgot her old baptismal name, 
Made bare her patriot arm of power, 
And swelled the discord of the hour. 

ii. 
Within its shade of elm and oak 

The church of Berkley Manor stood ; 
There Sunday found the rural folk, 

And some esteemed of gentle blood. 

In vain their feet with loitering tread 
Passed 'mid the graves where rank is naught ; 
All could not read the lesson taught 

In that republic of the dead. 

in. 

How sweet the hour of Sabbath talk, 
The vale with peace and sunshine full 

Where all the happy people walk, 

Decked in their homespun flax and wool ! 
Where youth's gay hats with blossoms bloom ; 



24 MANUAL OF ELOCUTION 

And every maid with simple art, 
Wears on her breast, like her own heart, 
A bud whose depths are all perfume ; 
While every garment's gentle stir 
Is breathing rose and lavender. 

IV. 

The pastor came ; his snowy locks 

Hallowed his brow of thought and care ; 

And calmly, as shepherds lead their flocks, 
He led into the house of prayer. 

The pastor rose ; the prayer was strong ; 

The psalm was warrior David's song ; 

The text, a few short words of might, — 

" The Lord of hosts shall arm the right ! " 

v. 
He spoke of wrongs too long endured, 
Of sacred rights to be secured ; 
Then from his patriot tongue of flame 
The startling words for Freedom came. 
The stirring sentences he spake 
Compelled the heart to glow or quake, 
And, rising on his theme's broad wing, 

And grasping in his nervous hand 

The imaginary battle-brand, 
In face of death he dared to fling 
Defiance to a tyrant king. 

VI. 

Even as he spoke, his frame, renewed 
In eloquence of attitude, 
Eose, as it seemed, a shoulder higher ; 
Then swept his kindling glance of fire 
From startled pew to breathless choir ; 



AND VOICE CULTURE. 25 

When suddenly his mantle wide 
His hands impatient flung aside, 
And, lo ! he met their wondering eyes 
Complete in all a warrior's guise. 

VII. 

A moment there was awful pause, — 
When Berkley cried, " Cease, traitor ! cease ! 
God's temple is the house of peace ! " 

The other shouted, " Nay, not so, 
When God is with our righteous cause ; 
His holiest places then are ours, 
His temples are our forts and towers, 

That frown upon the tyrant foe ; 
In this, the daw a of Freedom's day, 
There is a time to fight and pray ! " 

VIII. 

And now before the open door — 

The warrior priest had ordered so — 
The enlisting trumpet's sudden roar 
Eang through the chapel, o'er and o'er, 

Its long reverberating blow, 
So loud and clear, it seemed the ear 
Of dusty death must wake and hear. 
And there the startling drum and fife 
Fired the living with fiercer life ; 
While overhead, with wild increase, 
Forgetting its ancient toll of peace, 

The great bell swung as ne'er before : 
It seemed as it would never cease ; 
And every word its ardor flung 
From off its jubilant iron tongue 

Was, " War ! War ! War ! " 



26 MANUAL OF ELOCUTION 

IX. 

" Who dares ?" — this was the patriot's cry, 
As striding from the desk he came, — 

"Come out with me, in Freedom's name, 
For her to live, for her to die ? " 
A hundred hands flung up reply, 
A hundred voices answered, "//" 



T. B. Read. 



BEEAK! BREAK! BREAK! 
i. 
Break, break, break, 

On thy cold gray stones, Sea ! 
And I would that my tongue could utter 
The thoughts that arise in me. 

ii. 

well for the fisherman's boy, 
That he shouts with his sister at play ! 

well for the sailor lad, 
That he sings in his boat on the bay ! 

in. 
And the stately ships go on 

To their haven under the hill ; 
But for the touch of a vanish'd hand, 

And the sound of a voice that is still ! 

IV. 

Break, break, break, 

At the foot of thy crags, Sea ! 

But the tender grace of a day that is dead 

Will never come back to me. 

A. Tennyson. 



AND VOICE CULTURE. 27 



AWAIT THE ISSUE. 



In this world, with its wild whirling eddies and mad foam 
oceans, where men and nations perish as if without law, and 
judgment for an unjust thing is sternly delayed, dost thou 
think that there is therefore no justice ? It is what the fool 
hath said in his heart. It is what the wise, in all times, 
were wise because they denied, and knew forever not to be. 
I tell thee again, there is nothing else but justice. One strong 
thing I find here below : the just thing, the true thing. 

2. My friend, if thou hadst all the artillery of Woolwich 
trundling at thy back in support of an unjust thing, and in- 
finite bonfires visibly waiting ahead of thee, to blaze centu- 
ries long for thy victory on behalf of it, I would advise thee 
to call halt, to fling down thy baton, and say, " In Heaven's 
name, no ! " 

3. Thy " success " ? Poor fellow, what will thy success 
amount to ? If the thing is unjust, thou hast not succeeded ; 
no, not though bonfires blazed from north to south, and bells 
rang, and editors wrote leading articles, and the just things 
lay trampled out of sight, to all mortal eyes an abolished 
and annihilated thing. 

4. It is the right and noble alone that will have victory in 
this struggle ; the rest is wholly an obstruction, a postpone- 
ment and fearful imperilment of the victory. Towards an 
eternal centre of right and nobleness, and of that only, is all 
confusion tending. We already know whither it is all tend- 
ing ; what will have victory, what will have none ! The 
Heaviest will reach the centre. The Heaviest has its de- 
flections, its obstructions, nay, at times its reboundings ; 
whereupon some blockhead shall be heard jubilating : " See, 
your Heaviest ascends ! " but at all moments it is moving 
centreward, fast as is convenient for it ; sinking, sinking . 
and, by laws older than the world, old as the Maker's first 
plan of the world, it has to arrive there. 



28 MANUAL OF ELOCUTION 

5. Await the issue. In all battles, if you await the issue 
each fighter has prospered according to his right. His right 
and his might, at the close of the account, were one and the 
same. He has fought with all his might, and in exact pro- 
portion to all his right he has prevailed. His very death is 
no victory over him. He dies indeed ; but his work lives, 
very truly lives. 

6. A heroic Wallace, quartered on the scaffold, cannot 
hinder that his Scotland become, one day, a part of England ; 
but he does hinder that it become, on tyrannous, unfair terms, 
a part of it ; commands still, as with a god's voice, from his 
old Valhalla and Temple of the Brave, that there be a just, real 
union, as of brother and brother, not a false and merely 
semblant one as of slave and master. If the union with 
England be in fact one of Scotland's chief blessings, we thank 
Wallace withal that it was not the chief curse. Scotland is 
not Ireland: no, because brave men rose there and said, 
" Behold, ye must not tread us down as slaves ; and ye shall 
not, and cannot ! " 

7. Eight on, thou brave true heart, and falter not, through 
dark fortune and through bright. The cause thou tightest 
for, so far as it is true, no further, yet precisely so far, is 
very sure of victory. The falsehood alone of it will be con- 
quered, will be abolished, as it ought to be : but the truth of 
it is part of Nature's own laws, co-operates with the world's 
eternal tendencies, and cannot be conquered. 

T. Carlyle. 



A PSALM OE LIEE. 
i. 
Tell me not, in mournful numbers, 

Life is but an empty dream ! 
For the soul is dead that slumbers, 
And things are not what they seem. 



AND VOICE CULTURE. 29 

II. 

Life is real ! Life is earnest ! 

And the grave is not its goal ; 
Dust thou art, to dust returnest, 

Was not spoken of the soul. 

in. 
Not enjoyment, and not sorrow, 

Is our destined end or way ; 
But to act, that each to-morrow 

Find us farther than to-day. 

IV. 

Art is long, and Time is fleeting, 

And our hearts, though stout and brave, 

Still, like muffled drums, are beating 
Funeral marches to the grave. 

v. 
In the world's broad field of battle, 

In the bivouac of Life, 
Be not like dumb, driven cattle ! 

Be a hero in the strife ! 

VI. 

Trust no future, howe'er pleasant ! 

Let the dead Past bury its dead ! 
Act, — act in the living Present ! 

Heart within, and God o'erhead ! 

VII. 

Lives of great men all remind us 

We can make our lives sublime, 
And, departing, leave behind us 

Footprints on the sands of time ; — 



30 MANUAL OF ELOCUTION 

VIII. 

Footprints, that perhaps another, 
Sailing o'er life's solemn main, 

A forlorn and shipwrecked brother, 
Seeing, shall take heart again. 

IX. 

Let us, then, be up and doing, 
With a heart for any fate ; 

Still achieving, still pursuing, 
Learn to labor and to wait. 



H. W. Longfellow. 



ZENOBIA'S AMBITION. 

I am charged with pride and ambition. The charge is 
true, and I glory in its truth. Who ever achieved anything 
great in letters, arts, or arms, who was not ambitious ? 
Csesar was not more ambitious than Cicero. It was but in 
another way. Let the ambition be a noble one, and who 
shall blame it ? I confess I did once aspire to be queen, not 
only of Palmyra, but of the East. That I am. I now aspire 
to remain so. Is it not an honorable ambition ? Does it 
not become a descendant of the Ptolemies and of Cleopatra ? 

2, I am applauded by you all for what I have already 
done. You would not it should have been less. But why 
pause here ? Is so much ambition praiseworthy, and more 
criminal ? Is it fixed in nature that the limits of this em- 
pire should be Egypt, on the one hand, the Hellespont and 
the Euxine, on the other ? Were not Suez and Armenia 
more natural limits ? Or hath empire no natural limit, but 
is broad as the genius that can devise, and the power that 
can win ? 

3. Eome has the West. Let Palmyra possess the East. 



AND VOICE CULTURE. 31 

Not that nature prescribes this and no more. The gods 
prospering, and I swear not that the Mediterranean shall 
hem me in upon the west, or Persia on the east. Longinus 
is right, — I would that the world were mine. I feel, within, 
the will and the power to bless it, were it so. 

4. Are not my people happy ? I look upon the past and 
the present, upon my nearer and remoter subjects, and ask, 
nor fear the answer. Whom have I wronged? — What 
province have I oppressed? What city pillaged ? What 
region drained with taxes ? Whose life have I unjustly 
taken, or estates coveted or robbed ? Whose honor have I 
wantonly assailed ? Whose rights, though of the weakest 
and poorest, have I trenched upon ? I dwell, where I would 
ever dwell, in the hearts of my people. It is written in 
your faces, that I reign not more over you than within you. 
The foundation of my throne is not more power, than love. 

5. Suppose now, my ambition add another province to 
our realm. Is it an evil ? The kingdoms already bound to 
us by the joint acts of ourself and the late royal Odenatus, 
we found discordant and at war. They are now united and 
at peace. One harmonious whole has grown out of hostile 
and sundered parts. At my hands they receive a common 
justice and equal benefits. The channels of their commerce 
have I opened, and dug them deep and sure. Prosperity 
and plenty are in all their borders. The streets of our 
capital bear testimony to the distant and various industry 
where here seeks its market. 

6. This is no vain boasting : — receive it not so, good 
friends. It is but truth. He who traduces himself, sins 
with him who traduces another. He who is unjust to him. 
self, or less than just, breaks a law, as well as he who hurts 
his neighbor. I tell you what I am, and what I have done, 
that your trust for the future may not rest upon ignorant 
grounds. If I am more than just to myself, rebuke me. If 



32 MANUAL OF ELOCUTION 

I have overstepped the modesty that became me, I am open 

to your censure, and will bear it. 

7. But I have spoken, that you may know your queen, — 

not only by her acts, but by her admitted principles. I tell 

you then that I am ambitious, — that I crave dominion, and 

while I live will reign. Sprung from a line of kings, a 

throne is my natural seat. I love it. But I strive, too, — 

you can bear me witness that I do, — that it shall be, while 

I sit upon it, an honored, unpolluted seat. If I can, I will 

hang a yet brighter glory around it. 

William Ware. 



CHAEGE OF THE LIGHT BEIGADE. 
i. 
Half a league, half a league, 

Half a league onward, 
All in the valley of Death 

Eode the six hundred. 
" Forward, the Light Brigade ! 
Charge for the guns ! " he said : 
Into the valley of Death 

Eode the six hundred. 

ii. 

" Forward, the Light Brigade ! " 
Was there a man dismayed ? 
Not though the soldiers knew 

Some one had blundered ! 
Theirs not to make reply ; 
Theirs not to reason why ; 
Theirs but to do and die : 
Into the valley of Death 

Eode the six hundred. 



AND VOICE CULTURE. 33 

III. 

Cannon to right of them, 
Cannon to left of them, 
Cannon in front of them 

Volleyed and thundered : 
Stormed at with shot and shell, 
Boldly they rode and well ; 
Into the jaws of Death, 
Into the mouth of Hell, 

Rode the six hundred. 

IV. 

Flashed all their sabres bare, 
Flashed as they turned in air, 
Sabring the gunners there, 
Charging an army, while 

All the world wondered ! 
Plunged in the battery-smoke, 
Eight through the line they broke : 
Cossack and Russian 
Reeled from the sabre-stroke, 

Shattered and sundered. 
Then they rode back ; but not — 

Not the six hundred. 



Cannon to right of them, 
Cannon to left of them, 
Cannon behind them 

Volleyed and thundered : 
Stormed at with shot and shell, 
While horse and hero fell, 
They that had fought so well 
Came through the jaws of Death 



34 MANUAL OF ELOCUTION 

Back from the mouth of Hell, 
All that was left of them — 
Left of six hundred. 

VI. 

When can their glory fade ? 
the wild charge they made ! 

All the world wondered. 
Honor the charge they made ! 
Honor the Light Brigade, — 

Noble six hundred ! 



A. Tennyson. 



GOD ALL IIST ALL. 

Every moment of our lives, we breathe, stand, or move in 
the temple of the Most High ; for the whole universe is that 
temple. Wherever Ave go, the testimony to His power, the 
impress of His hand are there. 

2. Ask of the bright worlds around us, as they roll in the 
everlasting harmony of their circles; and they shall tell you 
of Him, whose power launched them on their courses. 

3. Ask of the mountains, that lift their heads among and 
above the clouds ; and the bleak summit of one shall seem 
to call aloud to the snow-clad top of another, in proclaiming 
their testimony to the Agency which has laid their deep 
foundations. 

4. Ask of ocean's waters ; and the roar of their boundless 
waves shall chant from shore to shore a hymn of ascription 
to that Being, who hath said, " Hitherto shall ye come and 
no further." 

5. Ask of the rivers \ and as they roll onward to the sea, 
do they not bear along their ceaseless tribute to the ever- 



AND VOICE CULTURE. 35 

working Energy, which struck open their fountains and 
poured them down through the valleys ? 

6. Ask of every region of the earth, from the burning 
equator to the icy pole, from the rock-bound coast to the 
plain covered with its luxuriant vegetation ; and will you 
not find on them all the record of the Creator's presence ? 

7. Ask of the countless tribes of plants and animals ; and 
shall they not testify to the action of the great Source of 
Life? 

8. Yes, from every portion, from every department of 
nature, comes the same voice : everywhere we hear Thy 
name, God ; everywhere we see Thy love. Creation, in 
all its depth and height, is the manifestation of Thy Spirit, 
and without Thee the world were dark and dead. 

9. The universe is to us as the burning bush which the 
Hebrew leader saw : God is ever present in it, for it burns 
with His glory, and the ground on which we stand is always 
holy. 

Convers Francis. 



SELECTIONS. 



AUTHOR. PAGE. 

I. The Cheerful Locksmith ----- Dickens - - 9 

II. The Launch of the Ship - - - - Longfellow - - 10 

III. Handsome is that Handsome Does - Whittier - - 14 

IY. Union and Liberty -------- Holmes - - 16 

V. Treatment of the American Colonies, Chatham - - 17 

VI. Lochinvar ------------ Scott - - 19 

VII. National Bankruptcy ----- Miraheau - - 21 

VIII. Kising in 1776 ----------- Bead - - 23 

IX. Break ! Break ! Break ! - - - - Tennyson - - 26 

X. Await the Issue -------- Carlyle - - 27 

XL The Psalm of Life ------- Longfellow - - 28 

XII. Zenobia's Ambition -------- Ware - - 30 

XIII. Charge of the Light Brigade - - - Tennyson - - 32 

XIV. God All in All -------- Francis - - 34 



